{"product_id":"grand-hotel-europa-by-ilja-leonard-pfeijffer-9780008375386","title":"Grand Hotel Europa","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eGrand Hotel Europa\u003c\/em\u003e is the international bestseller by Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer, a moving and addictive masterpiece exploring European identity, nostalgia, and the end of an era.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"A masterpiece: grandiose style, brilliant and rich. It will defy the ages\" - \u003cem\u003eTrouw\u003c\/em\u003e (The Netherlands)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"The love of my life lives in my past. That is, despite the alliteration, a terrible sentence to write. I do not want to come to the conclusion that, as it is the case for the hotel where I am staying and the continent after which it is named, the best time is behind me and that I have little more to expect from the future than to live on my past.\"\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA writer takes residence in the illustrious but decaying \u003cem\u003eGrand Hotel Europa\u003c\/em\u003e to reflect on where things went wrong with Clio, with whom he fell in love in Genoa before moving to Venice. He reconstructs a compelling story of love in times of mass tourism, recounting their trips to Malta, Palmaria, Portovenere, and the Cinque Terre, and their thrilling search for the last painting of Caravaggio.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMeanwhile, he becomes fascinated by the mysteries of \u003cem\u003eGrand Hotel Europa\u003c\/em\u003e and gets increasingly involved with the memorable characters who inhabit it, who seem to come from a more elegant time. All the while, globalisation appears to grasp hold even of this place frozen in time.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eGrand Hotel Europa\u003c\/em\u003e is Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer’s masterly novel on the old continent, where so much history resides that there is no place left for a future, and where the most realistic future perspectives are offered by exploiting the past in the form of tourism.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Arotahi Agency","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46494890295532,"sku":"9780008375386","price":35.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/26673763482190.jpg?v=1748464493","url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/products\/grand-hotel-europa-by-ilja-leonard-pfeijffer-9780008375386","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}